How I got here...

How I got here......Once upon a time I was a dancer. A  flowy pants, barefoot, martha graham loving modern dancer. I hated running! In fact I remember telling my husband after he took me on my first run that I would never do that again. Than a few things happened, my husband took a  stressful travel heavy job and I became a mom. The transition into stay at home mom wasn't  hard and I loved my job as a mom. (It probably helps that my kids are ridiculously cute and I am not biased my babies are so stinking cute) I still taught and I dreamt about starting to dip my toes into the things I use to do. There is something in people I believe  that needs to label as part of their identity. I am a dog person, or I am a geek kind of like that. A large part of my identity was wrapped up in being a dancer. There was a very visceral mind body connection that was part of my everyday life and that started to slip away. Motherhood does that because it's all consuming and it's very much like when you first fall in love since really that is what your doing is falling in love with this little angel that is a part of you. I fulling thought that I would get that part of my life back that physical part of a fit body and a love of dance. Than the thing that I think athletes dread the most happened, I got injured. My injury went fully undiagnosed for at least 6 mo nths and I got to the point of chronic pain. I felt like I had lost myself. Then something amazing happened, Dr. Sue Brown a DPT saved me. After many many months of physical therapy I started to move. The doctor told me that dancing the way I had before was out of the question but I needed some part of my physical identity back. One night in june I put on sneakers and some work out clothes and I told my husband I was going out for a run. I think the shock kept him from questioning me further. I wasn't gone long but I loved the feeling of freedom, and empowerment as my body sweated and my heart beat fast. I ran mostly at night and on weekends adding a block every night to lengthen my route. I even ran a 5k that fall and I felt like I became reborn. Life of course didn't let me just coast a year after my 5k I gave birth to twins and my running took a backseat to just the basics of survival with 4 kids 5 and under. Add a move and my oldest starting school and I was overwhelmed and then one day I knew it was time. I ran my first 5k and I was hooked again. Over the last 2 years I have committed myself to really making running part of my life. Running gives me a goal to shoot for, it relieves stress, and it daily teaches me about life.